Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts, Andy, Don, and Dude.
Get the funk out.
It's the Album Nerds podcast.
I'm Dude.
I got a disappointed Andy.
I'm Dude.
I got Andy and Don with me.
What's happening?
Hot stuff.
How you doing, Andy?
Hey, what's up, brother?
Hey, were you aware that if you free your mind, then your ass will follow?
I thought it was the rest will follow.
It depends what verse you're on, but yeah.
Don, how you doing?
I'm going to turn this mother out.
Don't.
Don't ever say mother again.
Wow.
If you could see Don's expression when he said that, it's still fear in any way.
So this is in fact the Album Nerds podcast.
We love albums.
We love talking about them.
We are big music fans and would like to welcome you all to the party.
All right.
So we've got a great show for you today.
We're going to be getting funky, talking a little bit about some funk fusion.
So we're going to get into our week of listening.
How funked up did we get?
And then we'll talk about our three album picks as well as answer a question that will
loosely be related to today's topic.
And then we're going to spin the wheel of musical destiny to find out what we're going
to talk about on the next podcast episode.
But this week, it's all about that funk.
That's what I'm talking about.
So funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid 1960s
when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various
popular genres.
It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on the strong rhythmic groove
of a bass line and drum part, often at slower tempos than other popular music.
Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking
grooves that create a hypnotic and danceable feel.
James Brown developed a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat.
He also had rock and psychedelic influenced musicians like Sly and the Family Stone and
Jimi Hendrix fostering improvisation in funk.
Artists such as Cool and the Gang, Parliament, Funkadelic, and Earth, Wind and Fire further
developed these innovations in the 70s and 80s.
Funk's influence can be found in all genres of popular music, including pop, jazz, hip
hop, rock, and metal.
And today, each of us will present an album that incorporates elements of funk.
Hey Don, the History Channel called it once it's funk episode back.
You should hear the unedited version.
Trying to watch the History Channel here.
Andy, how did you do on your funky journey?
Oh man, I was lost out at a funk sea for a while.
Spent a lot of time in the 70s, a lot of good stuff there.
Obviously George Duke, Donald Byrd, Bobby Humphrey, even Jeff Beck had a pretty funky
album in the mid 70s.
And then more modern stuff, a little Fishbone, pretty funky group as well.
And then I listened to a bunch of Tony Allen, who was a part of a fellow Coutes band also
in the 70s, but he puts out some later work in the 2000s that was pretty good as well.
But yeah, now I ended up with a new artist that we'll talk about in a few moments here
that I'm pretty excited about.
New to me, I should say.
Yeah, I had a similar experience.
The 70s were hard to escape, but then we were kind of looking for things that were more
funk influenced or came after and had elements of funk in it rather than funk itself.
And I wanted to take the easy road.
Stevie Wonder Talking Book certainly has funk elements, but a lot of R&B and soul elements
as well.
24 Seven Spies, the album Harder Than You, mix of funk, reggae, metal, polka.
They do a pretty cool cover of Jungle Boogie by Cool and the Gang.
I was really close on that one.
It's from the 80s and then anything by Lenny Kravitz would have probably sufficed because
he has at least one song on every album that's pretty funky.
But I decided to go a different direction kind of in the same time period where Lenny
Kravitz was Breaking Big, but it's a pretty exciting record.
So can't wait to get into that.
Donald, did you explore new funky territory or go back to the well?
Well, yeah, I did a little of both.
Of course, the first place I started was Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
Of course, it doesn't get much funkier than that.
I did want to mention some albums that we've covered before that would qualify.
Roxy Music Avalon, Faith No More, Epic.
I think any Duran Duran album would probably qualify.
I really came close to doing Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar, Sex Magic from 1991.
But instead, I did go back to the 70s.
Funky butt loving.
All right, well, let's get to it then.
You choo choo choose me?
Are you the bass player?
Why are we even talking to you?
Shouldn't you be like unloading equipment or something?
The bass is the foundation of the band.
All right here for my funk fusion selection, we are talking about Jaco Pastorius and his
self-titled debut solo studio album from 1976.
Jaco is a bassist and composer from Norristown, Pennsylvania.
He's known for his flashy electric bass play as a solo artist.
And then he gained some more notoriety later on as a member of The Weather Report.
Particular Record features piano stylings by Herbie Hancock, as well as some nice features
by saxophones Wayne Shorter and R&B vocalist Sam and Dave.
Star-studded affair.
We are going to play a cut here that features Sam and Dave.
This is a little bit of come on, come over.
You can barely hear the bass.
I hope you're joking.
Yeah, turn up your headphones, man.
It was so nice this week.
So much bass, but nice funky bass underneath everything and all the records kind of have
it at the forefront.
Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely a feature this week and particularly on this record.
So Jaco kind of serves as the band leader here, composing the majority of these songs
and kind of taking lead on the bass, which is kind of interesting to hear the instrument
lead the way, especially in a jazz group.
I would say this album does classify primarily as jazz, but I think even more than that,
it's really a showcase for Pastorius' bass playing skills.
And he's really out to capture the imagination of what was capable on the bass here.
Three words I use to describe this album is, see if you guys remember this meme from about
20 years ago.
All your bass are belong to Jaco.
Some people out there will get that.
Yeah, I was just, Has Cheeseburger was the only thing coming in line for me.
Same time period.
Yeah, I thought that track there, Come On, Come Over, really stood out.
It's the only track that has vocals on it and has a kind of a larger sound on it with
the horns and accompaniments there.
Yeah, I thought that song in particular really crackled along and worked really well.
There are some other really impressive moments on the album.
Some really cool solos.
But I think overall on this record, I'm a little bit mixed on it to be honest.
I think as impressive as Jaco's bass playing is, I don't know if it works great in a group
like this in terms of like actual songs like you would get in a traditional jazz album.
It feels like a lot of these songs don't really go anywhere to me.
There are some exceptions though.
I think Used To Be A Cha Cha is a pretty great song as well as the opening cut, Donnal Lee
is pretty impressive.
Why don't we play another song that I thought worked pretty well.
This is a two-parter here.
It's called Kuru, Speak Like A Child.
That one's like funky Charlie Brown.
Oh, good grief.
A little Geraldi feel to it.
So that features Herbie Hancock on piano.
So the three words I chose to describe this album are stand up for the electric bass.
Again, I'm a jazz novice.
But when I think of jazz and like a jazz trio or whatever, I always picture the stand up
bass being the instrument that is providing that rhythm track.
But of course, this album is all about the electric bass guitar, which really gives it
a different feel.
An electric bass is amplified and it's more dynamic.
Apparently Pastoris uses a fretless bass, which again, I don't know a ton about, but
it does seem to provide a smoother feel and there's more room between semitones and stuff
like that.
So again, a more dynamic experience.
I just chose to lose myself in his bass playing really fast.
So I guess, because I mainly come from a place of pop music and you don't generally hear
that du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du too much.
So that was different.
Apparently he's also making use of harmonics a lot more.
I don't know if you guys know a lot about harmonics.
Generally you're like, there's no way I could explain it.
Thanks for bringing it up.
Yeah.
Because I don't even fully understand it.
But usually it's when you have like, you kind of softly fret something.
You can do it on a guitar as well.
And so it has like these almost like overtones or something that are almost like accidental.
You're not fretting the note as you usually would.
That's a terrible explanation.
But anyway, innovative use of harmonics.
It's really hard for me to talk about jazz.
I found it to be an enjoyable experience.
I like the idea of the bass being in the forefront.
It's an underrated instrument, I guess, when it comes to sort of lead sounds, right?
Typically it's just kind of buried and providing a foundation for a record.
But definitely a fun experience.
And I'm glad that I now know somebody who's considered to be one of the elite bass players
out there.
Yeah.
Let's play a cut here that really shows off his elite chops here.
This is the bit of the opener called Donnelly.
Interesting tune.
The famous jazz composition originally written by Charlie Parker, maybe Miles Davis, supposedly,
or potentially drummer Norman Kahn.
Apparently Charlie Parker is known for it, but Miles Davis claimed that he wrote it.
But then he later also said that they really got the idea from Norman Kahn, the drummer.
The thing about jazz, man, it's such a collaborative process.
Kahn!
Sorry.
No, that was...
Come on, you're gonna do it.
Do it.
Kahn!
Yeah, I think that's better.
That was pretty good.
Come on.
Jaco's rendition of the song is notable, of course, for that fretless bass playing, speed,
the precision.
He's kind of Hendrix of bass.
And back to some of the earlier points, that doesn't necessarily carry an album very well.
I mean, it's fun, it's cool, but a couple more tracks with some vocalists probably would
have helped.
But the three words he used to describe the album are bass, no treble.
It's all about that bass.
I found myself scatting a lot for lack of lyrics, like along with the bass, like booba
dooba da ba dooba dooba da ba dooba.
Oh man, you just gotta have the lyrics, huh?
I don't gotta.
I mean, I enjoyed the album, but it gets like that, the opener, it gets a little like, are
we going?
Where are we going?
And then like, I guess that's it.
Okay.
We've been there the whole time actually.
It's funky, it's jazzy, it's bluesy, it's freeing in a way.
It just sort of lets you float on those, on that fretless bass, you know, so you kind
of feel like you're moving up and down that fretboard.
That's what jazz fusion is really all about, right?
Like taking jazz, adding some other elements like funky bass and also fusion often has
innovation and there's innovation on this record.
And I did appreciate that quite a bit.
Like the Tony Williams project that we talked about previously, that was a jazz fusion that
would have qualified for this episode as well.
But it had some of those, some of that feel, I think it's from around the same time period.
So it had a similar production feel as well.
So yeah, really cool.
I really liked the Jaco.
Yeah, it's an interesting album.
I'm definitely working on listening to it.
Like I said, there are some really standout moments and some interesting things that happen
that may be surprising.
But yeah, as an album on its own, I think, yeah, it's kind of a mixed bag.
But if you're not familiar with Jaco and his work with Weather Report, I think it's a good
place to start and has some pretty cool sounds.
So once again, the album is Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius.
Well, Jaco's not in charge.
I am.
Got it?
I'm good enough.
I'm smart enough and doggone it.
People like me.
If you're enjoying the program, and we hope you are, do us a solid and leave a review
on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app.
Maybe we made you laugh or you discovered an album you enjoy.
Leaving a review keeps the show going and helps other music fans find us.
My pick for a funky album is from the group Chic, an album called Risque, which was released
in July 1979.
This is the third studio album by the disco band formed in New York City in 1972 by guitarist
Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards.
Here's the opening cut from that album.
This is Good Times.
It's definitely a recognizable tune there.
The lyrics actually include a reference to Milton Agger's Happy Days Are Here Again.
Also includes lines based on lyrics featured in About a Quarter to Nine by Al Jolson.
Rodgers has stated that these Great Depression era lyrics was a hidden way of making a comment
on the economic conditions in the United States in the 1970s.
I think a lot of Chic records, they try to have just something behind it, a little hidden
meaning in every song.
The three words I chose to describe the album are parfait, chic, simplicite.
Very good.
Also, it's European up in here today.
I think what's going on here, it's relatively simple, but it's stylish and elegant and it's
just impeccably produced.
I think that's the story of Chic.
Nile Rodgers is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a producer.
Bernard Edwards is also a pretty renowned producer.
He did the Power Station albums and Robert Palmer in the 80s.
These are two guys that really know what they're doing in a studio.
Edwards is another bass player that is renowned.
In fact, John Taylor from Duran Duran pretty much steals his style.
Going back to Rio, it sounds like an Edwards bass line.
The album does feature the core group of Chic.
Chic is mainly just Rodgers and Edwards, but you have lead vocals from Alpha Anderson and
Lucy Martin and drums from Tony Thompson, who also was the drummer of that Power Station
project.
Let's hear another track from the album.
This is My Feet Keep Dancing.
That was done with Buddy.
It's happy in there.
Very impressive.
Yeah.
Pretty impressive indeed.
This was the third single from the album and it features co-lead vocals by Lucy Martin
and Bernard Edwards.
The track includes a dance solo performed by Fayard Nichols.
Very groovy.
The bass lines are awesome.
The guitar riffs are cool.
The tap dancing is unique.
The three words I used to describe the album, more tap sounds or more cowbell.
No, the three words were funky bass discotheque.
It's a little more advanced than a lot of other disco.
There's more time and talent put into the musicianship, I think, of these compositions
compared to a lot of other disco artists and songs.
Lyrics are kind of flat, but Bernard Edwards, the funky bass player, I feel like he's key
to the success of this band.
It's a fun listen.
Not a lot of meat.
It's well crafted, like I said, but other than good times, it was okay.
Just was disco music in the background.
Closer listens, I found some of those nice details, but all in all, a lot of these tracks
were not super compelling to me beyond the big single, but it was fun.
It was certainly a non-offensive disco experience.
Did it make you want to dance, is the question?
It did not, and that's where it failed.
Okay, well let's try another one.
Here's Can't Stand to Love You.
Now you think I'm upset the way that you're treating me.
You think I were into wrestling.
I can't deal with it.
You won't get away with it.
I really found myself enjoying the B-side of this record a fair amount.
Just has some shorter little R&B funky disco twinge to these tracks, but they're not nearly
as heavily disco-ized as the A-side here.
I would agree.
Rare feet where B-side is the more enjoyable, and it doesn't have any really known tracks.
More variety.
Let's call it the B-plus side.
They should.
Three words I used to describe this album are wedding DJ approved.
Definitely had some flashbacks to some wedding receptions I've been to.
Not a bad thing.
Not only just the sounds in these songs are things you might hear at a wedding reception,
but I think the way the disco songs are constructed are perfect for a DJ.
They're pretty lengthy cuts, man.
Eight, six, seven minutes long each.
There's a lot of repetition in them, almost like they've been looped for your enjoyment.
It's fun to freestyle over them.
I think that might be a part of it.
It's a chance for the DJ to take over, maybe do a little mic break or mix in something
else.
Well, as we alluded to with rap and granny there from the Wedding Singer, that is exactly
what happened with the Sugar Hill Gang.
Yeah.
Lyrically, like I was saying, the album does seem simple, but I appreciate that there's
a hidden layer to these lyrics and some thought went into it.
I think as we've said, the low end, the groove, the rhythm section is really what shines and
makes this album still interesting to hear after all these years.
It's pretty tight.
I really enjoyed the group playing together.
I like the vocalists.
I don't always love multiple lead vocalists like they use here.
Sometimes it sounds a little cheesy, but the very talented singers and I think especially
when they don't have all the strings competing with them on the high end, I think it works
really well.
So yeah, I wasn't as down on this as I thought I might be coming into a disco record.
One interesting thing I found out in the story of Chic is that Edwards is actually the one
who taught Nile Rodgers how to do that guitar strumming pattern.
I guess they call it like chop chord style.
Some people call it chucking, which is also used in bluegrass a lot.
But when I think of funk actually, I think of that guitar style.
I think it's like the same guitar that's on David Bowie's Let's Dance, which of course
Nile Rodgers produced.
Okay.
Yeah, I thought about if we hadn't talked about that record, I would have snuck that
into potentially.
And by the way, the two of them also produced the sister Sledge, We Are Family, which is
another huge disco record.
Yes, another big wedding song as well.
That tracks.
And so further listening, there's a Johnny Mathis album that was never released, which
was produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers.
And it's actually quite interesting.
You can find it.
Now it was part of some Johnny Mathis like box set or something.
Anyway, so that was Chic with Risque from 1979.
That's Chic with Risque.
Excuse me, I'd like to ask you a few questions.
Now another deep question from Don.
What two things do you think work best when put together so deep?
One thing that came to mind, I enjoy if it's an option, if you go to like a Chinese restaurant
or a sushi establishment.
I'm all for, give me some chopsticks.
Let me enjoy the authentic experience.
If I go to an African restaurant, I'll eat with my hands.
It's fine.
So yeah, I think I appreciate that elements of culture in your food.
So like the chopsticks go together, is that what you mean?
So that's two sticks that go together to form one utensil?
Literally the two sticks, yeah, I suppose.
Well, there's that, but what I got from his deep answer was the pairing of the food with
a traditional implement to eat it with.
Thank you.
They're also good for catching flies.
Yeah.
Yes.
You're a kung fu master.
Wow.
Or if you're training with your maintenance man at your apartment building, because you
got some bullies bothering you.
Pretty standard stuff, Andy.
We've all been there.
Yeah, for me, chocolate and peanut butter, of course.
That's a famous one.
Reese's nailed that.
Football and beer.
Even on a Sunday when I don't feel like having a beer, if football is on, I kind of feel
like I must have at least one.
It just sort of has to occur.
Maybe it's years in the eighties when they were allowed to have constant beer commercials.
Maybe I was influenced by that, that I must have beer with football.
But of course, time and chance.
Time and chance.
Whoa.
There you go.
Tell us more.
That's what leads us through this mysterious thing we call life.
We're getting some deep thoughts here.
Nice, Don.
Well, there's all sorts of areas you could go to.
I was thinking sports.
So I was thinking like, what, Jordan and Pippen.
Oh, right.
Sure.
Go well together.
Tons of examples in music.
I'm in a Garfunkel, Lennon and McCartney.
But I'm going to go back to food and I'm going to say grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Oh, that's a nice combo.
I think it's like a comfort food, I would say.
I take a shortcut and put some thin slices of tomato in my grilled cheese.
A little healthy.
That's a good combo, too.
All right.
Well, what two things do you like put together?
Yikes.
Let us know.
You can find us on the socials, Instagram, Facebook and threads.
Also on the discord, albumnerds.com slash discord.
I've never done so long.
Yeah.
So in Living Color, and there's often been some confusion, in Living Color was a comedy,
you know, sketch comedy show.
But Living Color is the band we're going to be talking about.
They formed in 1984.
Current lineup, they are still around Vernon Reed, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun and Doug
Wimbish.
And apparently Mick Jagger's interest in them back in the day is kind of what led to a recording
contract with Epic Records.
Their debut album, Vivid, is what we're going to be talking about today.
It's a rock, funk, metal, alternative, soul fusion.
It's just a lot of good stuff mixed up together.
So why don't we start off with a song you might recognize.
It's called Cult of Personality.
So that riff is pretty inescapable.
I love that riff.
It's the first track on the album and without fail, when you start the record, you're happy.
Like it's a good place.
Right out of the gate.
Yeah.
It's one of those great moments when you start a record.
Sometimes you want to start it over to hear the song one more time before you roll into
the rest.
So it's a dark subject matter though.
Yes.
That's still relevant today.
Of course, of course.
So the song is known for some of the clips from speeches and things like it opens with
Malcolm X's speech, Message to the Grassroots, setting the politically charged tone.
Of course, the guitar riff, it calls out Stalin, Gandhi, Mussolini, Kennedy, exploring the allure
and dangers of charismatic leadership.
It criticizes the manipulation of public opinion and blind devotion to charismatic figures.
Hmm.
Wonder if that happens now.
Nah, not relevant.
Nah, we're past that now.
Yeah, totally.
We've grown thanks to these guys.
People learn their lesson.
I won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1990 and remains signature track, of course.
The three words I used to describe the album are vivid, unbound fusion.
It's bright.
In some ways, it's those day glow colors of the 80s.
In other ways, it's timeless.
But the fusion is undeniable.
You hear elements of metal.
There's some straight up soul pop songs.
Corey Glover's vocals vary quite a bit.
He can do a lot.
And that's part of what keeps it really interesting.
We have some guests, Mick Jagger, Chuck D, Flavor Flav.
It's just like a melting pot of music.
The strongest tracks are those that have a little more social commentary.
Like Cult of Personality, Open Letter to a Landlord, Desperate People, Funny Vibe, Which
Way to America.
Those have a little more lyrical meat to them.
Some of the other songs are more like pop oriented, love songs and things.
Did you guys carry the way?
Did you believe one side of it was stronger than the other?
I mean, honestly, I thought each track really had a pretty distinct topic, which is kind
of unusual for rock music at least.
Yeah, I mean, those ones I think are strong.
I think they have an interesting perspective.
Open Letter to a Landlord was something I'd never really heard addressed in music before.
This idea of these leptid buildings having a history and importance to the community.
Yeah, like the gentrification stuff.
Like, hey, think about this.
The stuff you're ripping down you think is slum garbage is someone's home and they have
memories.
Yeah, exactly.
I thought they articulated that point really well.
But honestly, I thought every track really had a pretty interesting message.
Well, speaking of interesting messages, and in this case, in your face messages, let's
check out a little bit of Funny Vibe.
I mean, as much as I was pleasantly surprised by the lyrical content, I think the songs
that I gravitated towards most on this record were the ones that were a little more bass
heavy, maybe just because I got bass in the head this week.
But yeah, that track there is kind of just a jam track, pretty loose lyrics about racism,
but pretty loose feel to that track.
I really love that though.
And some of the later tracks on the record too also get into some pretty interesting
funk jam spaces.
Three words I used to describe this record are blowing up stereotypes.
Yeah, I was impressed.
This album is gritty in terms of just the production and the sounds, but also the bass
and the incorporation of these different sounds as Dude alluded to, makes it sound a little
bit ahead of its time.
I mean, definitely sounds a little bit more like the rock could get later in the early
to mid 90s there, bands like Faith and More, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
You definitely can hear a lot of similarities.
One thing I do have, which is kind of unique is just straight up guitar shredding at times,
kind of like zeppelin-esque kind of sound, which just kind of comes out of nowhere, which
is cool though.
Yeah.
Yeah, the other thing that I would mention too that took me by surprise were there's
a handful of more soulful ballads on here where Glover's vocals are really soft and
tender and gentle.
It was a sharp contrast to the greatness of the rest of the record.
Yeah, especially at the end of Which Way to America, which lyrically, just listen carefully
when you listen to it, essentially breaking down, how do I get to this America I hear
about?
It's got all this cool stuff.
Which Way there, because my America is not like that.
But he really goes for it vocally at the end of that with a uncharacteristic for the rest
of the record, like metal scream kind of thing, which is pretty cool.
Yeah, he has a pretty wide range.
He usually stays right in a kind of a rock space, I guess I would say, but then occasionally.
Yeah, he was impressive.
It's fun hearing all the little samples and skits and stuff they introduce from some hip
hop artists and politicians and whatnot.
It gives it a bit of a very timely feel.
Feels very 80s-esque in that sense.
But yeah, overall, I enjoyed it a fair amount.
Speaking of 80s-esque, there were a lot of glamour boys strutting around back in the
80s.
Why don't we check that track out?
Yeah, that song has a lighter, poppier vibe, I think, than the rest of the album.
Even sort of maybe some island sounds in there.
Also that guitar chucking, I think, is there.
Is that the chuck that we just heard?
I think so.
Although I confuse it with the...
There's the ska thing too, which is similar.
The ska riff.
Yeah, it's very, very close.
The reggae riff has chaka.
I'm going to have to explore that more.
But yeah, so as Dewitt alluded to, the song discusses young men that are obsessed with
aspects of high society, such as clothing and parties.
I actually like when they get to the chorus, all of a sudden there's some power chords
thrown in.
The three words I chose to describe the album are, they are fierce.
We didn't get to it, but in the song, glamour boys, they declare, I'm fierce.
Yeah, this is really...
It's a surprisingly good album.
Especially considering Dude picked it.
I didn't see that coming at all.
What a shocker.
It's something I was aware of at the time, but I never spent time with it.
And it's just a great fusion of so many things that I now love.
Hard rock and metal, pop and funk.
A little bit of soul thrown in there.
Glover's voice is quite dynamic and soulful.
Compared to some of the other funk, metal, or whatever we...
Is it metal funk?
Funk metal?
Fetal?
Funk metal.
Funk cattle.
Funk cattle, that's almost crossing a line.
So, comparing it to the Chili Peppers or Faith No More, it doesn't have the rap.
It's got Chuck D, but not really too much rap.
And I just...
With how excellent this album is, I'm kind of puzzled.
It feels like they got left behind and they were even on, I think, that first Lollapalooza
bill.
So they were sort of on the path to being part of that alternative scene, but it's like
the Seattle grunge kind of hijacked it.
I agree.
I think that the change in popular, what rock was supposed to sound like, definitely hurt
them.
And not with critics.
I mean, their second album also got Grammy nominations as well as their third, I believe.
But that was 93, I think, when their third one came out.
And by then, I think their sound was considered passe, which is unfortunate.
But yeah, I think they're unsung heroes of the era and of the scene.
And for that reason, I'm going to nominate this album for the album, It's All the Fame.
Oh my gosh.
Although this fusion was not invented by them, I think they were the first to really nail
it.
Chili Peppers had been around feeling it out, finding their way.
Faith No More as well.
But I feel like this debut album set the scene for what it was supposed to sound like.
And the songwriting, the performances, the bass playing, just the undercurrent of funk
fused with all these other things.
The more I listened to it for this week, the more I appreciated it and saw its intrinsic
value.
So what do you guys think?
Well, The World of Niles Barkley.
I think you're crazy, bro.
I don't know.
I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but I'm not sure it's quite that
caliber of an album, to be honest with you.
It's definitely very good and I definitely agree with the influence.
I'm going to say no.
I would vote yes anyway, but now, especially because this will leave it up to the audience.
Maybe it's just a temporary infatuation with me.
This week, I'm just like, wow, I really, really like this album.
And I think it's innovative.
And then even a song like Cult of Personality, I feel like any of the grunge acts could have
done that song afterwards.
So I think these grunge acts were probably influenced by this record.
So I vote yes.
I also like the British spelling of color.
Yeah, so well done.
There you go.
That's it.
Yeah, I mean, I hesitated to nominate because I wasn't sure if I was on like a, when you're
on vacation and then you want to live there.
I wasn't sure if that's what's happening.
If I'm having an album honeymoon right now.
But I think we all have.
I might end up, but I, yeah, I'm coming back to earth pretty quickly on this one.
Yeah.
So, so listeners go put in your votes of nerds.com or album nerds.com slash discord.
And maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll vote it down.
But for now, it's my jam.
That's living color vivid.
Go check it out.
So we explored the world of funk and funk fusion.
What did we learn?
Well, one thing struck me as we were talking about this chic record.
I think Don mentioned that funk in the harsh part is responsible for disco.
It never really occurred to me that those two things grew out of each other so sequentially.
So that kind of sucks.
I mean.
Why?
I think with funk, because it was often at a slower tempo or something.
There's like more space in it.
I think you can throw that four on the floor beat onto it like really neatly so that the
two really fuse well together.
Well, you know, I think every genre that gets like as more artistically grown, right?
That gets synthesized and then used in more popular.
Or broad appeal.
Yeah.
And that, you know, that happens all the time.
I mean, it happened with funk into disco.
It's happened with various types of rock, heavy metal made their way into pop.
So would you say that like each kind of like original genre has like its own bastardized
commercial version of itself?
Well, it's or you could consider it influences, you know, it influences pop culture.
It's so powerful that it works its way into pop music, rock music, any all types of forms.
And I think that's what I learned was how much funk and bass in particular, that slappy
style, how much that worked its way into all sorts of genres that I didn't really realize
before.
Not consciously realize.
I feel so funky.
I mean, for me, and I think it came out because we did a great jazz bass player and we did
a great kind of disco funk bass player that it's all about the bass.
And that's one to grow on.
I'm your density.
I mean, your destiny.
Alright, boys and girls, everybody grab your fretless bass and gather around.
It's that time once again to give that wheel of musical destiny a spin and see what's in
store for us next week.
Next week, you will all be striving to put right what once went wrong.
An album that you previously discussed was not given the time or attention it deserves.
You will revisit and dig into Purple Rain by Prince.
Let's go crazy.
So it looks like we're going to be revisiting Prince's Purple Rain, digging in deep, getting
all those crevices and see what we think.
Clean out your couch lately, man?
Or what's going on?
That's where you find out the loose change, yo.
Alright, quick reminder that we do have ongoing Elbner's Hall of Fame votes.
We have one week left to cast your ballots for Sly and the Family Stones.
There's a riot going on.
So if you have a strong opinion, yay or nay, that belongs in the Elbner's Hall of Fame,
go to our website, albnerds.com and our Discord, albnerds.com slash Discord to cast your votes.
I want to give a quick shout out of congratulations to Roxy Music and particularly the album Avalon
voted in by the listeners.
Landslide overwhelming positivity on that album.
So congratulations, Roxy Music.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame.
Okay.
What's your favorite funk influenced album?
Do you like Prince's Purple Rain?
Let us know.
You can follow Album Nerds on Discord at albumnerds.com slash Discord.
You can email us at podcast at albumnerds.com.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and threads at Album Nerds.
And please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcast app.
If you'd like to support the show, you can do so via PayPal at albumnerds.com slash support.
Thank you so much for joining us on the Album Nerds podcast.
We'll catch you next time.
We're going to get purple.
That's not dangerous.
Thanks for listening everybody.
Catch you next week.
This is Purple Rain.
It's purple rain.
This is purple rain.